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Written on: August 9th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
Featured reviews from this Sunday’s New York Times Book Review include:
Finally, well worth a read- Pamela Paul’s essay on adults who love to read Young Adult fiction. Count me in as one of those!
Written on: August 6th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
You may have used the NoveList readers’ advisory website in the past to help you select titles and authors of interest, find out more about your favorite writers, develop a presentation for a reading group or a class. If you haven’t- it’s well worth exploring.
Recently, the NoveList interface was been substantially revised and update. It’s cleaner, more attractive, and has new and enhanced information on fiction and nonfiction books.
You can explore NoveList’s new look with your Delaware Library Catalog library card number and PIN at this link: Explore the New NoveList Plus
In the new Delaware Library Catalog online catalog, we will be incorporating NoveList’s superior recommendation content directly in the catalog, but users will still be able to connect to the full information for books of interest at the NoveList site. On the site, it’s possible to search for some of the otherwise intangible points such as tone, storyline, and writing style which are now included in the indexing of new titles.
A “Teaching with Books” section has been added along with the new interface. This section will be especially helpful to school librarians and public librarians working with homeschoolers and students as it includes content based on grade and common curriculum topics.
Written on: August 4th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
We’re very happy to announce a new service from the Delaware Library Catalog and NetLibrary, our favorite E-Audiobooks and Ebook provider. While many patrons enjoy our downloadable digital audio books, we’ve carried a smaller line of ebooks for some time. Up until today, these titles have only been available for online viewing. In response to the changing technology scene, the increasing popularity of e-readers, and what are now almost daily requests from our library users, we now offer truly downloadable ebooks: copies can be virtually checked out, downloaded in their entirety to your PC for offline reading, and transferred to compatible ereaders.
Written on: July 27th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts, Learning Journeys
Within the last couple of weeks I have become friends again with a number of junior and high school friends from my old home town- thanks to the power of Facebook. A week-long nostalgia trip has followed, as I have emailed and online chatted with people I haven’t seen or spoke to in more than 20 years (25, in most cases- the reunion was a couple of months ago.) It’s been amazing to look and see how they looked then, how they look now, and what they’ve accomplished in the meantime.
The virtual hometown visit also made me think about my hometown library. Frequently on this blog I’ve posted links to articles written by authors, scientists and other public figures where they recollect the importance that their first library had one the path their life has taken, and we often write about the broad impact of library services in communities and schools, but we’ve never really tried to collect or present the individual stories and recollections that are just as important.
Written on: July 26th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
A thorough reading of this week’s New York Times Sunday Book Review section reveals the typical wealth of new and fascinating books, and the typical question- “which one to read first?” Some of the most interesting-looking are listed below, available from your local Delaware library. And remember, you can read back issues of the book review section, as well as hundreds of other newspapers and magazines, in our subscription resources- click this link and enter your library card number and PIN.
Written on: July 24th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
While we bade a sad farewell to ‘Old Spice Guy’, whose recent library advocacy will be sorely missed, several other interesting and provocative media mentions caught our eye this week.
A relatively routine guest blogging turn at Lesa’s Book Critique Blog resulted in this heartfelt appreciation and praise for the value of public libraries from leading mystery author Tess Gerritsen.
Meanwhile, NPR reasonably suggests that libraries could become the “next big thing”: Read it here.
Finally, this list of books featured in Mad Men is in itself an interesting time capsule, and a handy guide to the culture and customs of the 1950s and the advertising industry of that time. Books featured on the list and available at one of your Delaware libraries include:
Written on: July 21st, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
Every summer, Delaware’s public libraries welcome schoolchildren to an exciting and educational series of activities, programs, and performances designed to bridge the gap between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next. Summer Library Reading Programs are very common across the US- in fact, this type of program has existed for more than a century in one form or another- and attempt to combat what Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has described as the “devastating impact” of summer slide, in which the average student loses the equivalent of almost a month of instruction during the summer break from structured educational activities, with disadvantaged students disproportionately affected (click here for more details.)
Dominican University received a research grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and partnered with the Colorado and Texas State Libraries on a three-year, evidence-based investigation into the impact of summer reading programs on student acheivment. You can read the executive summary below, but to summarize the summary, the researchers found that participation in these programs increased children’s scores on standardized reading tests and that their teachers reported increased confidence and participation in classroom activities overall on their return to school.
The full report is available at this link: The Dominican Study: Public Library Summer Reading Programs Close the Reading Gap.
Written on: July 20th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
As I’ve noted before, one of the great perks of being a librarian and being able to go to professional conferences is the opportunity to get sneak peeks at some of the great soon-to-be published books, and the chances to rub shoulders with your own literary favorites. June’s American Library Association conference in DC was no exception, with hundreds of informative workshops and sessions- and between sessions, opportunities to hear from authors and to stand in long lines to get autographs.
I outsourced this final responsibility to my daughter Lucy, because I had a packed schedule and because so many of the authors in attendance were kids and young-adult fiction writers, and there were some of Lucy’s favorites in attendance. I think that meeting and talking to authors is an incredible opportunity for book-loving children- the notion that the creation of magical, imagined worlds is an accomplishment of apparently ordinary people and one ultimate expression of the ordinary, tangible skills that are being accumulated and polished during the mundane routines of school and homework.
Rebecca Stead, who has two incredible books for young adults (top left with Lucy) was lovely, and Lucy also had a couple of encounters with Laurie Halse Anderson which left her very excited. At the conference, Anderson presented her new historical novel Forge, which will be published in October and is a sequel to her very well-received Chains. Forge continues the story of runaway slave Curzon as he encounters General Washington’s army at Valley Forge- you can find out more about this great book (Lucy devoured it in a couple of days, and it is a doorstop) at this LibraryThing page
Written on: July 20th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
New additions to the Delaware Library Catalog’s downloadable e-audio books this week:
Other new e-audio books can be seen at this link.
Written on: July 19th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
UPDATE: this version of the catalog is now “live” since August 20th 2010
With the pending arrival of the New Castle County public libraries scheduled for September, it’s an ideal time to update and upgrade the online aspect of the Delaware Library Catalog (OPAC, in library-ese). This next generation online catalog introduces upgrades that will make the catalog richer and easier to use.
You can “test-drive” the new OPAC at this link: http://ilstest.lib.de.us. Let us know what you think! You can start a conversation in the comments section below, or email us at: feedback@lib.de.us. Your current Kent, Sussex, or Wilmington library card and PIN can be used to log in to review the advanced services, and New Castle County library card holders accounts are also loaded into this test environment. REMEMBER! This is not the most current library card account data for you, and you can’t ACTUALLY place holds or receive email updates from this site!
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